Desk tray



Oct. 10, 1950 Filed May 14, 1946 E. BERGMAN DESK TRAY 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Patented Oct. 10, 1950 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE DESK TRAY Application May 14, 1946,-Serial No. 669,702

g 1 Claim. 1

The resent invention relates to a .desk tray.

The invention contemplates the provision of a desk tray which comprises a plurality of document carrying members mounted on a carrying means in tiers, the upper document carrying member being mounted so that it may be swung rotatably on a post out of normal superposed alignment with the lower document carrying member, so that allarticles or documents carried in the lower member are made readily available and accessible. aIhus, the two document carrying members although normally in registration oneabove the other so that space is conserved are so mounted on a commonpost as to provide the accessibility found in two spaced uncovered document carrying members carried separately on the desk.

The present invention-further contemplates the provision of such a desk member in which the upper document carrying members may be replaceably removed from its carrying means so that the removedmember may, if desired, be carried-away from the desk for any use away therefrom.

These, other and further objects, uses and advantages of the present invention will be clear from the description which follows and the drawings appended thereto in which Fig. 1 isa top plan view of a desk tray according to my invention, a position assumed .by the upper document carrying member as it is swung about the post on which it is mounted being illustrated in broken lines.

Fig. 2 is a section on the line 22 of Fig, 1. .Fig. Sisarear view of my desk tray, a position assumed by the upper member as it is swung about the post being shown in broken lines.

Fig. 4 is a rear elevation of the mounting post for the members.

Fig. 5 is a section on the line 55 of Fig. 4, showing in broken lines that part of the bottom member which fits onto-the mounting bracket.

Referring now to the drawings, the bottom or lower document carrying member ID is mounted on the butterfly wing seat [2 of the carrying or mounting bracket l3 extending from the sleeve l4 to which, as will be described, the mounting post for the upper document carrying member is threadedly secured,

Inorder to prevent marring of the desk on which my desk tray may be placed, I provide on the under surface of the tray bottom It of the lower member ID the bumpers 20 and 22 (such bumpers being omitted from the upper member 18 since it is not ordinarily placed on a desk) and 2 on the butterfly seat [2 of the bracket I3, the bumpers 24 and 2B.

It will of course be understood that in all other respects the members I I] and I8 are the same and are interchangeable.

The members it and it are preferably molded from a suitable plastic material, though it willbe understood that they may be made from any other material, for example, wood or metal and are provided with the rear walls 28 and 3B, the sides 32 and 34 which preferably narrow down toward the front walls 36 and 38. The front Walls 36 and 3B and bottoms i6 and 39 are preferably cut out at M to permit easy access to any documents which may be carried in the members.

The bumpers 20 and 22 may be made of the same plastic as is the member 'I 0 and thebumpers 24 and 26 may be made of any suitable material such as rubber, felt or plastic.

The butterfly bracket I3 is preferably connected to the sleeve I l as by means of the pin 4| which is pressed into a corresponding opening in the sleeve.

In order to removably assemble the members [0 and I8 together and so that the upper member I8 may be swung or swiveled out of alignment or registration with the lower member Hi to make it (the lower member) readily accessible, I provide the pivot post 42 with the undercut (reduced in diameter) threaded finger 44 (see Fig. 4) which as will be described on assembly of the desk member is secured into the internally threaded bore 48 formed in the sleeve I4. 7

The lower member IE! on the rear wall 28 thereof (see broken lines, Fig. 5), is provided with a supporting bracket 48 having the separated wings 50 and 52 which extend toward each other on the rear wall to provide a circular opening or channel 54 in which is received the sleeve M upon attaching the bracket I3 to the member Ill.

The rear ofthe supporting bracket 48, which bracket extends up from the bottom of a document carrying member to the top thereof along the rear wall of each of the members, as illustrated in Figs. 2 and 3, is preferably open at 49 and the diameter of the opening or channel 54 is slightly greater than the diameter of the sleeve I4 so that the sleeve may be received in the supporting bracket 48 when the member is mounted on the butterfly wing mounting bracket I3.

The wings 5B and 52. and the opening or channel 54 correspond respectively in shape and size to the spaces 56 and 58 of the butterfly or Wing seat I2 and the sleeve I 4 so that when the sleeve is inserted upwardly into the opening or channel it,

they will fit together and prevent turning of the bottom member thus holding it in position in the assembly.

The sleeve I4 is cut out to provide the somewhat narrower in diameter post 60 extending up from the shoulder 62.

Upon inserting the sleeve I4 into the opening or channel 54 in the bracket 48 of the member, the shoulder 62 on the sleeve I4 is brought against the shoulder 64 of the member supporting bracket 48, the post 50 extending into the somewhat narrower portion of the Opening or channel 54.

The upper member I8 on the rear wall 39 thereof is also provided with a similar supporting or mounting bracket 66, the wings 58 and 10 of which are spaced to form an opening or channel in which is received the post 42, which is cut to form the narrower portion 12 extending up from the shoulder 14,

The pivot post 42 is inserted upwardly between the wings 68 and 10 of the bracket 66 and the undercut threaded post 44 screwed threaded opening 46 to bring the undercut shoulder IS on the post 42 against the member bracket 48 which thus tightly holds the bottom member II] in place.

The post 42 is of a smaller diameter at the upper portion 18 thereof which itself is smaller than the cap 80, the channel or opening in the bracket 66 being likewise stepped down in diameter to accommodate the post 12 and upper portion 18. The diameter of the upper portion 18 is somewhat smaller than the diameter of the corresponding portion of the channel or opening in the bracket 56 as is the diameter of the pivot post 42 somewhat smaller than the diameter of the corresponding portion of the channel or opening in the bracket 56.

Thus, the shoulder l4 rests on the shoulder 82 permitting the upper member [8 to rotate or swivel completely around (if desired) the post 42.

In order to readily remove the upper tray [8 from the desk tray assembly, I open the rear of the mounting bracket 66 at 83 so that, as will be described, upon raising the tray sufiiciently so that portions of the channel or opening in the mounting bracket 55, larger in diameter, will be positioned at portions of the pivot post 42 which are smaller in diameter.

When it is desired to remove the upper member I8 from its assembled position in the desk tray, it is merely necessary to raise it so that the narrower part of the bracket 65 is raised above the shoulder 82 thus aligning it with the narrow portion 18 thereby permitting the member to be removed through the opening 83, through which pass the narrower portions 18 and 12 of the member 42.

It will be recognized that this is possible because the diameter of the opening at the intermediate part 86 of the bracket 66 is larger than the diameter of the upper part 18 of the post 42. This difference of diameter of the post 42 and the bracket 66 also serves to prevent the member from ordinarily being removed.

It will now be seen that I have provided a novel desk tray which is composed of more than one document carrying member but in which the upper member may be rotated or swiveled out of position to thereby increase the working capacity without the requirement of a larger working space into the or area and which upper member is removable and. replaceable as desired from the assembly.

As obviously, many variations may be made in the embodiment of my invention which I have described, within the spirit and scope thereof I do not intend to be limited to the exact details disclosed but intend to claim my invention as broadly as the terms of the appended claim and the state of the art allow.

I claim:

A desk tray assembly comprising an interchangeable upper and lower document carrying member, the rear walls of the said members formed into an integral supporting bracket having spaced wings, said spaced wings extending toward each other to provide a circular channel, said channel being open at the rear, top and bottom thereof, said channel being narrow at the upper part thereof to form an undercut seat in the channel, and a connecting member for spacedly mounting thereon the interchangeable upper and lower document carrying members, said lower member being fixed and said upper member being swivable around said connecting member into and out of alignment with the lower. member, said connecting member comprising a mounting bracket, a lower post extending up therefrom, a butterfly wing seat surrounding the lower post, and an upper post threadably mounted on the lower post, said lower post having a shoulder below the thre' a'dable mounting for the upper post, the spaces between the butterfly wings of the seat in the mounting bracket and the lower post corresponding in size and shape to the spaced wings extending from the rear wall of the members and the lower part of the channel between the spaced wings on the rear wall of the members corresponding in size and shape to the lower post whereby the bottom member is held in fixed position on the connecting member, the upper post at the top thereof being undercut to provide a shoulder, a narrower portion extending up from the shoulder and a second upper portion narrower than the first mentioned upper portion, the upper tray being seated on the shoulder on the upper post, said lower portion of the channel in the rear wall of the upper member being larger than the first mentioned upper portion of the upper post and narrower than the upper post, whereby the upper member is swivably mounted on the upper post.

ED BERGMAN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 589,463 Case Sept. 7, 1897 799,233 Hubbell Sept. 12, 1905 922,751 Conway May 25, 1909 1,145,205 Mills July 6, 1915 1,289,657 Cheney Dec. 31, 1913 1,383,259 Jordan June 28, 1921 1,719,966 Burns July 9, 1929 1,957,153 Smiley, Jr. May 1, 1934 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 523,511 Great Britain July 16, 1940 

